The Australian Women's Register

Merran Martin was born on 6 February 1948 in Canberra, the daughter of Les Smith and Mauva Carney, whose ancestors had been pioneer settlers in the district. Her father served in the Navy during the war before joining the Commonwealth Public Service, becoming one of the founding officers of the Department of Immigration upon its formation in 1945. Merran was educated at St Patrick’s primary school in Canberra before attending a French school and the International School in Geneva for three years when her father was posted to the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration in 1958. She returned to Canberra in 1961, fluent in French and German, and completed her high-school education at Canberra Catholic Girl’s High School, Braddon, now know as Merici College.

On leaving school, Merran trained at Sydney Teachers College and taught languages in NSW high schools for three years. From 1971-72 she travelled in Europe, teaching English and learning Italian in Rome. On her return to Australia she completed a degree in modern languages at the University of New England, and joined the Department of Immigration teaching migrants and refugees at the Endeavour Hostel Coogee, NSW, before undertaking a voyage as a shipboard education officer in 1974. On her return to Canberra she worked in the Migrant Education Section of the Department of Immigration, resigning in 1975 to raise her four children.

After completing further training in English as a second language at Canberra College of Advanced Education, Merran taught English to migrants at Bruce TAFE from 1985 to 1988, when she joined a commercial firm teaching English to international students. She returned to teaching at the ACT TAFE (now the Canberra Institute of Technology) in 1991 where she taught newly arrived students and initiated a program of English tutorials for traumatised refugees at TRANSACT, now known as Companion House. Merran is currently Education, Placement and Referral Officer, Special Preparatory Program Manager and Home Tutor Scheme Coordinator in the Adult Migrant English Program at the Canberra Institute of Technology, and intends to retire at the end of 2007.